I recently taught a class at DePaul University on Social Media Strategy to Graduate Students in Public Relations and Advertising.  Below is the reading list I compiled with tech sources, interesting articles, and relevant case studies that helped guide our class discussion.

Technology and Social Media Blogs

• Mashable
• ReadWriteWeb
• TechCrunch
• The Next Web
• AllFacebook
• Inside Facebook
• Wired
• Business Insider
• Soshable

Analyst Blogs

• Jeremiah Owayng
• Scott Monty
• Greg Satell 
• Chris Brogan
• Peter Kim
• Brian Solis
• Tim O’Reilly
• Jeff Jarvis
• Aaron Strout

Podcasts

Podcasts have been my “secret weapon” over the years.  All the news covered on the sites above is broken down into detail.  I strongly recommend them

• This Week In Tech
• This Week In Google
• Tech News Today
• The Social Hour
• NPR’s On The Media
• Quick N Dirty
• Brand Fast Trackers

Twitter Lists

• Ben Foster’s Tweets With Value
• Marshall Kirkpatrick’s Social Strategists
• Marshall Kirkpatrick’s Friends of Strategists
• Tim O’Reilly’s Tech News
• Mashable’s Brands
• AdWeek 25
• TechCocktail Chicago
• The Community Roundtable

Specific Articles

Class 1 – The State of the Internet and Public Relations

• Mary Meeker – 10 Questions Internet Execs should Ask and Answer via TechCrunch
• The Cluetrain Manifesto
• Markets Are Conversations – The Cluetrain Manifesto
• The Future of Public Relations

Class 2 – Objectives, Strategies, and Audience Research

We’re told by the experts that Social Media is a Groundswell.  It all starts with “ordinary” people, customers & employees, who group together around a common theme.  “It’s grassroots!  It’s organic!  We just need to enable them!”

Well, this is true…but effectively harnessing that power requires resources and coordination.  The fastest way for organizations to get those resources is with senior leadership support.

Credit Ross_Angus

Ironic?  Yeah…I suppose.  These technologies were supposed to change the world!  We’d move from political decision making to a meritocracy.   While this may happen in the future, to prepare your company today you need senior support.

Well, easier said than done…How do you ensure that you get this support?

History should serve as our example.  A public declaration outlining the need for change with a signature of leadership sends a message to others that commitment is real.

• The Protestant Reformation had Martin Luther’s 95 Theses nailed to a door
• The American Revolution had the Declaration of Independence signed by our Founding Fathers

Want to drive a similar change?  Consider asking leadership to sign this document, post it on your intranet, and refer to it often!

Leadership Commitment for Social Media

I ________________________ understand that the Social Web is powerful not because of what WE, as a company do, but by how we enable our customers, employees, & business partners to do.

• I understand that we can not control what people say about us.  I understand that some people will criticize, condemn, and complain about us.

• I recognize that censoring, hiding, or deleting this criticism is a short term solution that does not fully address the problem facing our business.

• I commit to acting rationally, rather than emotionally, to what people might say about us online.  Rather than taking it personally, I will work to solve the problem so that this does not happen in the future.

• I recognize that measuring Social Media activity is not as easy as measuring other parts of my business.

• As an obligation to our shareholders, I will continually challenge our company to measure our return on investment.  However, I understand focusing on ROI can be a distraction since the technology and concepts are so new.

• I recognize the power of the Social Web and Social Media.  I will commit resources (money, time, and employees) to understand the potential these technologies have for my customers, my company, and my industry.

• I understand that the strategies and technologies in this space move fast.  I also understand that they will move faster tomorrow.

• I commit to pursuing business objectives, rather than technologies, to reach our goals.

• From Commenter Kathy Heasley – I recognize that this is the age of integrity and that social media has the power to enable all employees to be advocates for our company and our customers.  I will encourage their participation by establishing standards of acceptable practice so they may use this media with confidence and without fear of reprimand.

Signed _________________________________

What would you add?

You should also try these posts, they’re tasty!

• Twitter Metrics – How to Fool Your Leadership
• How to Manage Your Company’s Social Media Efforts Through a Portfolio Approach
• Matrix for Staffing a Social Media Initiative
  

Companies have tons of employees who are Social Media Experts and tons of managers who are Masters at Leadership Influence.  However, rarely are the two skills possessed by a single employee.

Companies should encourage leaders to actively participate in Social Media to “Learn By Doing”, or develop younger talent who have Social Media skills into better management influencers.

Greg Matthews (@chimoose) from Humana tipped me to this in a tweet that read: “Have read this 3x. It’s that good. @katfrench on Social Media Pros: Where Do We Go from Here?

So, I’ve also read this three times and can’t stop thinking about it’s impact on organizations.  I particularly liked this excerpt:

On one side, you’ve got a vision of social media as a way of making business communication more human and more effective, while making the bottom-line results more measurable. In that vision, social media is integrated fully into existing business disciplines. It’s obsolete as a specialization in itself.

On the other side, you’ve got the day-to-day life of someone paid to help clients use social media tools to their advantage—within their comfort zone, within their restrictions, and within their existing business paradigms.

The distance between the two, on some days, seems like an enormous gaping canyon.

It goes back to what I think is the biggest obstacle in adoption, skill set.  Making Social Media work requires two critical skills:

1. Social Media Expertise – Laugh all you want, but you have to know the territory.  Practicioners need to have the skills that come from “learning by doing” rather than “learning by reading Mashable”
2. Leadership Influence – The ability to change the minds of senior leaders by showing “What’s In It For Them”.  Keep in mind that leaders have major financial incentives tied to business performance metrics and because 2.0 is still so new (relatively speaking), it’s hard to see how implementing radical change will affect year end bonus.  This means you need a skilled influencer to convince leadership of adopting technologies.

While most organizations have employees that posess these skills, rarely do the two overlap…which I think might be the problem.  We need experts that can influence.  We need influencers who are very active in social media.

How do we bridge that gap? Is it training?  Is it “stretch promotions”?

Is it a function of age?  I.e. Younger employees are the experts, senior employees have the political skills.

Recently, I led a Consumer Research project that featured some very wonderful Innovation Consultants from Strategos who preached the gospel of “learning by doing”.  Or, as Vas Vasiliadis would say, “You got to get in there and make the sausage, man.”

“Learning By Doing” has since become my professional mantra.  I started this Social Media Strategy blog solely to learn techniques for my current job.  Writing a blog teaches you a lot about content strategy, search engine optimization, and community building.  I wanted detailed knowledge on these topics so I could better execute Social Media Strategy.

Google Webmaster tools have taught me so much about the way people look for information on the internet.  Search Engine Optimization is truly an art-form and the most skilled practitioners are worth their weight in gold.

Today, while checking my account I noticed that my page had a high search engine result for “Annoying Facebook Pictures.“  I Googled it, and the results weren’t quite what I intended when I wrote my post about Facebook’s Monetization Strategy for Facebook Credits.

Google image results for “annoying facebook picture“

“Nice Etch-A-Sketch, Jerk Store” – Tripp Barry

However, Google…we’re still friends.  I like the way you think about “corporate strategists.”

Posted By Ben Foster

photo by llawiet via flickr

The first 30 days in a new job is stressful and it’s hard to be able to think quick and act even quicker.  I recently talked about some myths I always believed about corporate strategy jobs and ways to think about selecting a job.  What follows are thoughts on starting a new job off right:

The Fine Line Between Smart and Annoying

I always want to sound smart in initial meetings, however..I don’t want to be the guy who talks just to hear the sound of his own voice.  Here’s what has worked for me:

• Culture of Meetings  - Does the most senior person talk first?  If you’re concerned about something, do you ask a question… or make a statement?  Wait for Q&A… or chime in when needed?  
• 15 minute rule – I once received advice that said if you don’t speak within the first 15 minutes of a meeting, people have already forgotten about you.

Try for Personal Introductions

If your to-do list says, “Ask Greg about ___”, it’s tempting to want to send Greg an email.  You’ll probably save a lot of time… but is it worth it?  I’ve always respected someone who talks to me in person or phone before an email.  Seems much more real.

Read Everything You Can

It’s hard reading what you don’t “have” to read.  But I’ve found great nuggets by absorbing as much as I could find.

Internal Materials – There are going to be a lot of “decks” forwarded to you to “bring you up to speed.”  However, I’m always amazed at what you can discover by clicking on every link on your corporate internet.  It’s a great way to learn the initiatives and acronyms of other functions and how those all fit together.

External Materials – Over-subscribing to content and then weeding it down to the best seems to work here.  Here’s what I try to do:

• Subscribe to every blog covering your space.  Don’t know where to start?  Try AllTop for a directory
• Listen to what your customers are saying through a Twitter Search for your company and competitors
• Google News Alert works really well for keyword searches.  My  ”content strategy” search has turned up great stuff
• Forward the best your team – nothing beats being the first person to the link!

Photo by llawiet via Flickr

Do You Feel Like This Guy? Then read on...

In my last post, I covered some of the myths about working in corporate strategy.  Here, I’ll share what worked for me when I was last searching for a job.  Step One is to do a quick self-assessment to make sure you would be comfortable with the job.  Then I’ll talk about what you can be doing now to prepare yourself.  After that, I’ll cover tips for networking and surfacing the right opportunity.  In my next post, I’ll talk in more detail about the interview process as I’ve experienced it with various companies.

Check Your Gut – Do You Really Want This?

Great strategists can listen and rely on their gut instincts to a decision.  Ask yourself these 3 questions and listen really hard to your first reaction.

• “Am I comfortable with ambiguity?”  – This is the big one, if you’re the type of person who sees things as either black or white, right or wrong, then start looking for a more analytical job.  In strategy, you will never have the right answer, your goal is to get to the best reasoned answer.
• “Can I tolerate office politics?”  – Politics exist everywhere, and a key part of your job is using influence to change people’s hearts and minds.  If politics didn’t serve a purpose in large organizations, the market would have forced firms with political environments out of business.
• “Do I like creating and telling stories?” – The easiest and most effective way to deliver a message is to engage your audience with an interesting story related to your idea. If you stop at the “thought”, then people won’t internalize the story and be able to spread its message.

Start Preparing For a Strategy Job

• Strategic Thought Library – Start bookmarking, saving, and filing every framework, powerpoint model, and thought-piece you can.  While completing my MBA at Chicago Booth I did not do a good job capturing and organizing all the frameworks we used to analyze strategic decisions.    I wish I had because having a library makes your job easier.  You don’t have to spend valuable time recreating ways to approach a problem.
• Join Every Cross-Functional Team You Can – Try to become the representative from your function on as many projects as you can find the time for.  This does two important things for you:

1. Teaches you about how different functions operate and work together
2. Gives you powerful network connections which will one day end up benefitting you

Finding and screening available positions

• Exert Exhaustive Effort in your Search – Some of the best positions are more readily available than you think, you just need to be in the right place at the right time.  have to be in a position to find them.  Executive recruiters LOVE to crawl LinkedIn for good people, make sure your profile is up to date and contains keywords like “strategy”, “business development”, and “strategic” somewhere in your profile.
• Read the Job Description Carefully – The first few descriptions you read will sound very generic with words that consultants typically speak.  But as you view more opportunities, you can gain an advantage over other candidates by understanding the details.  Examples of what to look for are as follows:
  • How Strategy Aligns in the Organization
    
  • What the Time-Frame of Projects Typically Are
    
  • How Centralized is the Control of the Group
    

Be Selective In Companies You Choose

Of course, this is easier said than done, and I understand that a paycheck is better than no paycheck at all.  However, having to craft, explain, and defend a strategy that you don’t believe in will doom your career.  In other words, if you’re a vegan, you probably shouldn’t take a strategy job at a fast-food retailer.  Be patient…finding a position where you can argue effectively a strategy that reflects your passion will be rewarded.

Photo by Y via Flickr

Jobs in corporate strategy always attract the attention of eager MBAs and Undergrads.  I always wanted to go into corporate strategy because the group at my old company contained some of the smartest people in our business.  But what does it mean to “work in strategy”?  Here are some commonly held beliefs about corporate strategy positions, and my thoughts about how they are changing.

Photo by pshutterbug

Myth 1 – Ivory Tower

• The Myth – Corporate Strategists are an elite group separated from the organization like a think-tank
  
• Why The Myth Exists – It used to be that strategy functions would hire high price consultants to sit in all day meetings and talk about the future.  Frameworks describing the business in four boxes or less were compiled leaving all parties confident about the future.  Soon enough, you’d see the presentation quoted by the CEO and available on the intranet.
• The New View - Management is demanding thought leadership that can be executed by the organization.  This requires strategists to spend as much time on practical details of execution as they are on thinking.  The ability to recall facts become less important as the internet has compiled and organized the wealth of information once exclusive to large strategy firms.

Myth 2 – Consulting Rejects

• The Myth – People who work in corporate strategy couldn’t cut it in a big consulting firm
• Why the Myth exists – Large consulting firms pay employees a lot of money to travel the world and meet with Senior Leadership.  This money, experience, and network is desired by all potential recruits, therefore, the best work for Big Strategy Firms.  If you’re not promoted to partner, then you go corporate with a made-up an excuse about work/life balance.
• The New View– Simply put, some people don’t want to be paid for creating PowerPoint decks that sit in an corner office and are never used.  The best corporate strategist love seeing things created that they have helped to shape.

Myth 3 – Perfectionists Wanted

• The Myth – Your presentations and recommendations must look perfect
• Why The Myth Exists – Corporate strategy groups used to resemble big strategy consultancies.  These firms required their content and presentations to be perfect because it reflected on the quality of their work.  Corporate strategy groups assumed that attention to detail was just as critical for them.
• The New View – An unpolished presentation makes other functions feel more comfortable about adding input.  This makes it easier to gain buy-in from other functions which is critical to corporate strategy success.  Keeping it raw sends the signal that you are looking to build or shape the strategy.

Myth 4 – Cookie-Cutter Leadership

• The Myth – The leadership skills required for Corporate Strategy are the same as any other function
• Why The Myth Exists – Companies want strategy to “fit-in” with the rest of the organization, so they treat it like any other function.  Leading that function requires motivating a team, representing strategy as a Subject Matter Expert, and communicating a vision.  Therefore, firms wanted to hire great managers…not great analyzers.
• The New View – Most employees in corporate strategy are highly motivated by the work and require minimal direction.  Additionally, no one wants to hire a “Strategy Expert” so the role of Subject Matter Expert (SME) on cross-functional teams doesn’t apply.  The best corporate strategists are Subject Matter Questioners (SMQ) who possess a broad knowledge of business with the ability to link it together.

Photo by pshutterbug via flickr

We’ve all said something on the internet we wish we would could take back.  It could be a a rush to judgement, or even pure stupidity like this classic exchange between a Cisco Applicant and a Cisco Employee.

A prospective Cisco hire (@theconnor) tweeted:

Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

A Cisco channel partner advocate responded with a tweet of their own

Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.

By Kevin Marks

Step 1 – Hit “Eject”, Disconnect!

Leave behind any internet capable device and physically Eject yourself to another location.  Take a walk, get a coffee, or go to your favorite store.  It doesn’t matter.  Right now you need your thoughts to be Disconnected from your emotions.  Preventing yourself from over-reacting to the situation can make what seems to be severe much more calm.

Step 2 – Redirect your Intellect

Now that your emotions have settled, you’re going to need to start thinking again.  But don’t rush back into email, Redirect your focus to sites that make you think.  Your mind should be nice and clear from Step 1, so here’s a to chance to get your Intellect working for you again.

Step 3 – Collect, before you Reflect

Listen or read as many points of view as possible before trying to make sense of them.  Collecting a variety of feedback helps you see all sides of the issue.  Don’t try to make sense of any one person’s words until you have a complete set of information.  No scientist would make a conclusion off of one data point, so just observe all the feedback then Reflect on what it all means.

Step 4 – Reconnect, but not Perfect

You have relaxed, prepared your mind, and thought about the issue.  It’s time to now Reconnect with your community.  However, fully understand that it is impossible to make everyone happy.  Don’t worry about Perfecting your response, once it feels 80% good, get it out there.

Step 5 – Correct and Neglect

You’ve put a lot of effort into understanding the situation and probably learned how your personality may have caused the problem.  Correct that flaw and you won’t have to go through this stress again.  Whether its ego, laziness to proofread, or bad taste in humor, you probably have received this type of negative feedback sometime before.

Here’s the key, you need to Neglect that this ever happened.  Put it behind you and move on.  If it’s on your mind, it will continue to impact your life.

In summary, a bad situation on the internet will happen to all of us.  What determines success is the ability to understand and address the situation so that you can prevent it from ever happening again.

Social Media Elitist Michael Gray called BS on all the people who are “doing nothing” but creating crap on social media networks:

This weekend I watched an amazing video from Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs at a Ted Conference, and what really hit home is how many people struggle to be new media douchebags in a web 2.0 world. If you’re the kind of person who wants to have 50,000 twitter friends, be a power Digg user, make the front page of  Techmeme, get mentioned on Techcrunch, avoid getting mentioned in Valleywag, and it isn’t filling your wallet, then you are a Web 2.0 Weenie Living on …(bad) Social Media Economics.

Your Network Sucks; Weenies Have Diverse Networks

Social Media Elitists perceive that “Everyone is a Social Media Expert” because they associate a large network with a good network.  You may influence thousands of people; but they are the same types of people…Social Media Experts.  If your network contains a true cross-section of corporate America, (i.e. companies with cash flow), it becomes apparent that no one understands the details of social media strategy.

We are Weenies, You are Elitist World of Warcraft Players

Technology gets better as it is adopted by the mainstream.  Increased volume reduces cost.  Increased demand improves functionality.  There are so many experts because there is so much opportunity.  You recognized a good idea before most of the world did, Congratulations!.  Now keep up the good work and let’s find a way to make this scale.

You’re Not the Audience Weenies Are Trying To Reach

My favorite marketing professor, David Rosenthal, casually remarked, “If you don’t understand a commercial, you’re not in the demographic.”  We’re not writing for you.  We’re writing for people who read an introduction to Twitter on Slate.  We’re interested in the executive who was flipping through Time Magazine.

Beth Kanter wrote an incredibly relevant piece on the importance of story-telling in presentations.  She cites Andy Goodman in her article:

Andy is a master at storytelling.  In his workshops, he offers the following formula for a storytelling based on Hollywood script writing:

* Introduce the central character
* Inciting moment:  something bad happens to the character that will prevent them from achieving a goal related to the goal of your presentation
* Barrier to resolution #1:  Character tries to solve the problem, but can’t
* Barrier to resolution #2:  Characater tries to solve the problem, but can’t
* Resolution:  What you’re going to share in your presentation
* Widen the Lens:  The bigger picture

Sounds simple enough…but not all of us are master story-tellers. How do you know if your story is good?

• Does your story give your audience an lesson they can use?  – Give your audience the ability to apply a lesson from the experience of someone else
• Is the ending of the story an excellent beginning to your presentation? – It’s tempting to tell a joke, but don’t take time away from communicating your message
• Would your audience tell the story to someone else? – Don’t confuse this with simplicity; the point is to create a group who can spread your message to others
• Have you practiced telling the story to someone else? Don’t test your story on the audience; master the timing by practicing with a friend or colleague

Shortly after taking a Social Media position, I realized 1- How many of us there are and 2-Titles are ubiquitous.  At the recent TechCocktail 10 in Chicago, I overheard someone yell  ”What the f_ck does being a Social Media Expert even mean?”

Certainly there are more people building knowledge in the field…but it’s not as many as you think…we’re a growing community that ALL USE THE SAME METHOD OF COMMUNICATION. However, with any large technology change (think internet and/or  e-commerce), corporations want to maximize profit and prevent being beat by the competition.

This fun + profit equation is why you are seeing so many Social Media Experts; it’s not necessarily a a bad ting.

1 – Your network isn’t as diverse as you think

Look, I know you think you have a diverse network, but given the low level of adoption, anyone you have connected with is really into social media.  It’s not that everyone is a social media expert, it’s that your network is more insular than you thought.  You are exposed to all of them(us).

2 – Social Media Is Fun

Sharing ideas with other people is pleasurable.  This natural enjoyment causes the “groundwell” that you are perceiving as a large number of “experts”.  With layoffs and a down economy, people are craving professional assignments that are both interesting and in-demand.

3 – Easier to Use Technology

Connecting to people over the internet is not new.  Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) were around before most self-proclaimed Social Media Experts were born…but they were very hard to use.  Recent technology is not only making it easier to publish, but easier to have your content reach others (how many of us now have Aunts/Uncles on Facebook?)

4 – Businesses Like Making Money

Never underestimate this classic economic point.  In fact, most major technological change has been made mainstream by businesses seeking to adopt it.  It still makes me uncomfortable seeing businesses on facebook, but it’s good for the technology, and good for users(us) in the long run.

5 – Businesses Don’t Possess the Necessary Skills

It’s much more efficient for a business to purchase skills than to try and build them internally.  It is time consuming, risky, and less effective than hiring someone with the requisite skills and experience.  This is why consulting is an industry in the 100s of billions of dollars.

6 – Experts Make More Money

The demand for Expert Services, the inability for anyone to truly define what a Social Media Expert is, and the crap economy that is forcing everyone to find work is what is driving this trend to Social Media Experts.

Again, this isn’t a bad thing.  Technologies generally get better when there is an economic incentive for businesses to pay for the brain-power to make them better.  So, as your Social (Media) Life improves, you can bank on thousands more newly-minted Social Media experts ready to receive your Thank You.

A great post at davefleet.com outlined eight questions to ask Social Media experts.   Josh Peters at shuaism.com gave some great answers.  Almost as common as Social Media experts are Social Media teams in organizations.  I thought this excerpt was very relevant:

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of seeing people sign up for Twitter, follow ten thousand people (many of whom follow back) to build a substantial following, then start spouting advice as though followers equals expertise. Some of them are experts, for sure. Others, however, seem to have little beyond a big mouth to back their words up.

Almost as annoying, but just as dangerous, are the hordes of traditional practitioners that have realized they need to include social media in their pitches nowadays, but have no experience whatsoever using those tools.

Every company is starting a Social Media group/team/initiative, here are 6 questions to ask your organization’s Social Media team:

1 – Will the team have access to any tool, technology, or website they want?

• Watch for any hesitation towards full and complete access
• Probe for the process required to get access from tech admins and compliance teams
• Sounds like a ridiculous question, right?   It’s not, if admins don’t trust their social media teams, chances are that management doesn’t yet trust them either.  You’ll be surprised how many times you hear “well, we just don’t support Firefox.”

2 – What is your “VPV” – Visitor Value Proposition?

• Watch for any answer that could be translated into “Build it, and they will come”
• Probe for specific examples on why this improves upon the current solutions available to potential visitors
• Many otherwise brilliant senior leaders expect the love they have for their organization is common….but unless you are providing visitor-driven, stunning content, no one cares about your company.

3 – How does the organization deal with negative feedback?

• Watch for a sugar-coated answer that is too good to be true
• Probe for examples of leadership acceptance and response to negative feedback
• Social media teams are trained to expect negative feedback but rarely does management understand the true essence of negative comments that customers, partners, and employees post.

4 – What is the biggest regulatory/compliance restraint facing the social media strategy?

• Watch for answers at the extreme, positive or negative
• Probe for the ability for the organization to respond quickly without bureaucratic constraints
• Every organization faces regulatory constraints.  An answer like  “we’re free to do whatever we want” is naive.   However, some industries simply can’t maximize social media’s potential because of their industry regulations.

5 – Who does the social media team report to?

• Watch for organizational layers without a direct reporting structure to top management
• Probe for the strategic objectives of the function that Social Media is most closely aligned
• I’ve heard of social media groups in marketing, strategy, technology, innovation, and even customer service.  Ideally, the social media team will be it’s own function with a a direct report to the CEO to make management buy-in quicker.

6 – What metrics are management using to measure success?

• Watch for a direct answer with narrowly defined metrics or an ambiguous answer with little thought
• Probe for measurements in other functions that tie to social media objectives and for a set of metrics that work together to measure progress
• Social media has multiple ways to impact the bottom line, but the answer here shows strategic thought given to the business model.  The metrics don’t matter as much as the thought process behind them.

What are good answers to these questions?  What else would you include in this list?